Episode 417: Star Wars
Kermit has booked Angus McGonagle, the argyle gargoyle who gargles Gershwin (gorgeously). But at the start of the show, the cast of ''Star Wars -- Luke Skywalker, C-3PO and R2-D2 smash through the wall, looking for Chewbacca. Kermit is thrilled to have them on his show, until he finds out that they won't actually perform anything. Luke mollifies Kermit by bringing in his "cousin", Mark Hamill -- but when Kermit sees Mark sing and dance, he throws him out. Finally, the Star Wars crew hijacks the Swinetrek. With First Mate Piggy subbing in as Princess Leia, they face Dearth Nadir (Gonzo) who is holding Chewbacca prisoner. Songs/Sketches * "Rama Lama Ding Dong" * Muppet News Flash: "National Sheep Dog Trials" * Angus McGonagle and Mark Hamill gargle "Summertime" * UK Spot: "Three Little Fishies" * "Six String Orchestra" * Pigs in Space: The Star Wars Cast Board the Swinetrek (part 1) * Muppet News Flash: "The Swinetrek has Landed" * Pigs in Space: The Star Wars Cast Board the Swinetrek (part 2) * "You Are My Lucky Star"/"When You Wish Upon a Star" Episode Notes * The backstage scene where Hamill does impressions of Kermit and Fozzie was inspired by a meeting the actor had with The Muppet Show writers. Hamill recalled in a 2019 interview (see sidebar) that Jim Henson asked him if he had any special talents he would like to highlight, Hamill put on a Kermit voice and said, "I've been known to do impressions." Henson replied, "Who do you do?" * The idea of Mark Hamill and Luke Skywalker being two different characters in the episode's plot came from Hamill's concern at the time about being typecast. In an interview, Dave Goelz stated that "he was rightfully concerned about being identified forever as Luke Skywalker, so for that reason, they wrote a dual storyline. Our whole stance was, we wanted guest stars to be able to do what they wanted to do."Star Wars Insider #55, p.55 * In this episode, Luke Skywalker is wearing his "Bespin uniform". This costume didn't appear until the latter part of The Empire Strikes Back, which at the time had yet to be released. A running gag throughout the episode sees several characters commenting favorably on the costume and asking "Who's your tailor?" * A similar thread to Empire was the announcement during Pigs in Space that Dearth Nadir's identity would be revealed in the segment. Although Gonzo first appeared as "Dearth Nadir" in episode 402, the true identity of Darth Vader was revealed in the movie which came out months after the original airing of this episode. This is a similar gag to the Pearl Bailey episode, where Gonzo takes the guise of the "mysterious Black Knight" who one can obviously tell is him. * Posters of Luke Skywalker and an upside-down Star Destroyer hang in Scooter's bedroom during the "Six String Orchestra" number. * When the Odyssey Channel gave a sneak preview of its upcoming programming, this episode was shown, complete and uncut, making this the only episode to be shown uncut on American TV. * Issue 55 of Star Wars Insider magazine from 2001 ran several articles about this episode of The Muppet Show. One of the articles, entitled "Shooting Gonzo into the Canon", made an attempt to fit the appearance into Star Wars canon, stating that "any Star Wars project authorized by Lucasfilm, and featuring Star Wars characters, can surely be placed into the formal, official canon of the Star Wars universe." * The plot of this episode is based on the arrival of supposed unexpected guests stars. A similar plot takes place in episode 519, when the unknown Chris Langham replaces in emergency the planned guest star Benny Brillstein; while a plot close to this happened in episode 315 where Lesley Ann Warren was accidentally invited to guest on the show as opposed to "Lesley and Warren, the knife-throwing act". Edits When this episode aired on Nickelodeon, the following scenes were cut: *Scooter practicing for his big number *Mark Hamill and Angus McGonagle gargling Gershwin on-stage *The second Muppet News Flash Cast Guest Stars: :Mark Hamill, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), C-3PO (Anthony Daniels), Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), and R2-D2 (Himself). Muppets: :Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, Scooter, Statler and Waldorf, Angus McGonagle, Shepherd, Shepherdess, The Newsman, Animal, Robin the Frog, Link Hogthrob, Dr. Julius Strangepork, Eel, Fish, Shark, Sheep Background Muppets: :Beauregard, Floyd Pepper, Janice, Zoot, Nigel, Koozebanians, Whatnots Performers :Jim Henson as Kermit the Frog, Link Hogthrob, Waldorf and the Newsman :Frank Oz as Fozzie Bear, Miss Piggy, Animal and Shark :Jerry Nelson as Angus McGonagle, Dr. Julius Strangepork, Floyd Pepper, Robin the Frog, Eel and the Announcer :Richard Hunt as Scooter, Statler, Janice, and Shepherd :Dave Goelz as Gonzo and Zoot :Louise Gold as Mother Fish :Steve Whitmire as Sheep :Kathy Mullen as others Gallery Image:Star_Wars23.jpg Image:Star_Wars29.jpg Image:Star_Wars27.jpg Image:Star_Wars06.jpg Image:Star_Wars34.jpg Image:Mark_and_angus.jpg Image:Star_Wars24.jpg Image:Star_Wars33.jpg Image:Star_Wars39.jpg Image:Star_Wars28.jpg Mark Hamill Miss Piggy blaster.jpg Image:Star_Wars40.jpg Image:DearthNadir!!!.jpg Image:Star_Wars25.jpg Image:Star_Wars26.jpg Image:Star_Wars31.jpg Image:Star_Wars02.jpg Image:Star_Wars21.jpg Image:Star_Wars03.jpg Image:Star_Wars04.jpg Image:Star_Wars10.jpg Image:Star_Wars12.jpg Image:Star_Wars30.jpg Image:Star_Wars05.jpg Image:Star_Wars07.jpg Image:Star_Wars13.jpg Image:Star_Wars38.jpg Image:Star_Wars14.jpg Image:Star_Wars22.jpg Image:Star_Wars15.jpg Image:Star_Wars16.jpg Image:Star_Wars17.jpg Image:Star_Wars18.jpg Image:Star_Wars35.jpg Image:Star_Wars41.jpg Image:Star_Wars01.jpg Image:Star_Wars32.jpg Image:Star_Wars36.jpg Image:Star_Wars11.jpg Image:Star_Wars20.jpg Image:Star_Wars19.jpg Image:Star_Wars37.jpg Image:Star_Wars09.jpg Sources External links *The Muppet Show at [[w:c:Starwars:Main Page|Wookieepedia - The Star Wars Wiki]] __NOWYSIWYG__ 417 Category:Space